"I have not been impressed by the criticism of Sean -- sometimes offered sotto voce -- that Sean is quote 'a budgeteer not a rocketeer,'" Boeherlt said. 'Well, guess what? Sean is not going to NASA to personally design rockets. But he knows enough about rockets to know that they burn cash just as assuredly as they burn fuel, and both propellants are finite."

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) made a brief appearance to speak in support of O'Keefe but warned the nominee against making rash decisions about closing any of NASA's 10 field centers. "If you're going to NASA just for a BRAC-type arrangement, you're going to met a lot of resistance from a lot of us here in the room," Lott said. NASA's Stennis Space Center is located in Lott's home state of Mississippi.

In his prepared testimony, O'Keefe told the senators present that he would work hard to establish strategic goals for the space agency and do everything in his power to return NASA to its R&D roots.

"The immediate challenges confronting NASA today are, largely, not scientific, technical or engineering in origin," O'Keefe said. "Rather, the challenges are more aptly described in management terms -- financial, contractual and personnel focused. The problems are not overwhelming, but do require attention to fundamental management principles lest the important science and technology driven enterprises be subsumed by process failures."

Questions about the international space station and space shuttle dominated the hearing, but no new ground was covered.

O'Keefe, currently serving as deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, offered few specifics about the kinds of changes he would make as head of NASA.

He did make clear that he sees eye to eye with many of the recommendations made this fall by the International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation Task Force led by former Martin Marrietta chief Thomas Young. In particular, O'Keefe endorsed the recommendation to hold NASA to a three-person space station until the agency can reestablish its credibility as cost estimators.

The most pointed questions during the hearing came from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), two lawmakers with political constituents that have a lot to lose if NASA cuts back on space station spending and space shuttle flights.

Hutchison, whose homestate included NASA's Johnson Space Center, sought assurances from O'Keefe that he is committed to seeing the space station through to the point where it can accommodate a full seven person crew.

O'Keefe's reply was straight out of the Bush Budget Blueprint, which early this year recommended scaling back the space station to avoid a $5 billion overrun: "Our goal is to achieve a three person capability and overtime get at right and then look at what the expansion opportunities may be."

She told O'Keefe that she expects NASA to succeed in its search for expansion opportunities. "If you are successful, you will be my hero," she said. "If you are not, I will be all over you."

Despite her misgivings about OMB's prescription for the international space station, Hutchison said she will work on behalf of O'Keefe's swift confirmation

Nelson, who was the only senator left at the end of the three-hour plus hearing, used much of his allotted time to lecture O'Keefe on the importance of the space shuttle. He advised O'Keefe against following through on the task force recommendation to limit shuttle flights to a rate of four per year. Such a cut would result in major layoffs, he said, and jeopardize NASA's ability to fly the shuttle safely.

O'Keefe assured Nelson that NASA would not settle on a number arbitrarily.

O'Keefe also said he plans to call upon Tom Young's services very early in his administration, should he be confirmed, to help NASA articulate a strategic vision that emphasizes science and research and development.

Asked by Wyden how he expects his administration will be characterized, O'Keefe said, "I hope it will be characterized, in the very near term, as 'let's get back to basics'."